


The Color Red

by THRILLHO



Series: Bright Lights, Eight Nights of Broten [6]
Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Arguing, Canon: Dragon Ball GT (Anime), Friendship, Gen, Humor, Mentioned Goten/Valese, Minor Bulla/OC, No Romance, Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:01:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28099608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/THRILLHO/pseuds/THRILLHO
Summary: Inspired by a series of prompts given to me: the color red, platonic, and bad boy.
Relationships: Bulla Briefs/Son Goten, Minor or Background Relationship(s), platonic - Relationship
Series: Bright Lights, Eight Nights of Broten [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2049801
Comments: 6
Kudos: 5





	The Color Red

**Author's Note:**

> Starring GT Bulla and Goten! (i.e. baby prostitute-Bulla and Chad-Goten)

“I’m afraid we don’t do that, sir,” the other voice on the line said unapologetically. “We simply can’t put a bag on hold in the hopes that you might show up. There is a very big demand, you know.”

All the calls Goten made and the shops he visited came down to this moment where he had finally found the ultra-rare, limited edition, super expensive handbag his girlfriend coveted.

“I can literally be there in a minute! Look, you can put down my credit card—”

“If you can be here in ‘literally’ a minute,” the salesman cut him off, “Then I suggest you take advantage of that instead of pleading with me.”

“Oh fine!” Goten lamented the fact that there was no receiver to slam like in the olden days and settled for furiously pressing ‘end call’ on his mobile phone. Goten gnawed at the inside of his cheek knowing the salesman at the purse boutique was right. He wasted his time arguing instead of going there once he found out they had  _ that _ particular handbag.

Springing into action, Goten grabbed his wallet and keys and flew as fast as he could to West City from his home in Satan City. He pretty much had to cross the globe to get there but he could do it. He even turned Super Saiyan just to be sure. If someone took his rise in energy as a sign of danger, he’d deal with it later. Right now, his mind was focused on one thing, how appreciative Valese would be when he presented her with the gift she had been longing for. He let those thoughts push him faster than he had ever gone before and he was soon right above West City.

“Forty-seven seconds,” Goten said breathlessly as he looked at his watch. He was totally winded but invigorated. There was no way they had sold it already, he thought with some confidence as he entered the boutique, ready to put a face to the salesman that had been on the other end of the telephone call. There was no time for that, however, because as soon as he walked in he saw it. There in its red leather glory prominently on display in the middle of the store, beckoning him to his prize. He scarcely had his hand on a strap when an arm cloaked in a red elbow-length fingerless glove put an impeccably manicured hand to the bag as well. He saw her before he even smelled or sensed her.

“Goten?”

“Bulla!”

They each gripped their respective handles tighter as they glared at one another, neither of them daring to pull. Who knew what their Saiyan strengths would do to their reward. Normally, Goten would be intimidated. When Bulla clenched her jaw like that she looked remarkably like Vegeta but no one was more frightening to him than his mother and so he dared a gentle tug towards his body.

“Let go, Bulla,” he said evenly. “I need this more than you do.”

“Nuh-uh, I’m not letting go,” Bulla insisted in that bratty way of hers he found infuriating. “Don’t you have some purple-haired goon to follow around? Besides, I saw it first.”

“You did not,” Goten argued back, careful not to raise his voice too much, lest he draw too much attention to himself fighting with a whippet of a girl, if only in appearance. He wasn’t going to win in the court of public opinion.

“Yes, I did!’ Bulla had no qualms about raising her voice. “I was on my way to the mall when I walked by this store and saw the cutest handbag that would match my outfit. So give it here!” Indeed, the red leather of the handbag did match her red outfit perfectly, from her headband to her boots. Why did she dress so monochrome anyway?

“Haven’t you been wearing the same thing for the past eight years? I’d say you need a new style!”

Bulla gasped, appalled. “Now I’m never letting go!” She tightened her grip.

“Do you know how many internet searches and phone calls I had to make to find this?” Goten tried to appeal to her. Surely, she must have had some type of conscience. 

“I don’t care.” Guess she doesn’t. “The last thing you want is a blue-haired girl whose shopping you just ruined on your case.”

“C’mon, Bulla,” Goten tried a different approach and put on a chill façade. “It’s not for me, I’m getting this for my girlfriend, Valese—”

“Well, duh, it’s obviously not for you!” she cut him off. “Unless it was for your undercover drag persona.”

Goten had to fight off a smile even though his patience was wearing thin with the half-Saiyan girl. Part of Goten knew he could probably push her back any time but another part of him was enjoying this tête-à-tête battle. The once sweet baby in pigtails was now a fury to be reckoned with and had cutting jibes in her back pocket. Figurative back pocket, he didn’t think she had any real pockets on her actual outfit.

“Look, it’s not fair you lucked into it—”

She did something unexpected then and took her free hand and caressed his arm. “It’s not luck, it’s privilege, darling,” she purred at him and batted her eyelashes.

“Just because you dress like jailbait, doesn't mean that will work on me,” Goten said, rolling his eyes. “Fine, what do you want for it?”

If Goten’s comments bothered her she didn’t show it. “You don’t have anything I want,” she said, flipping her hair and sticking her nose in the air. Negotiating was a gamble, he knew. What did he have that could entice a Saiyan princess and heiress to the biggest fortune in the world? 

“Then maybe we should take this outside,” he growled, surprising himself with his act of intimidation.

Bulla’s eyebrows shot up but she didn’t back down. “No fair,” she said. “You know I don’t fight.” She tugged the red handbag by its straps closer to herself.

“Why are you doing this? You have a ton of these bags at home. Hell, you could call the designer herself and have one sent over immediately. Poor saps like me need to wait and hunt these things down, not to mention max out our credit cards.”

“It’s because…” Bulla hesitated and nibbled at her bottom lip. Goten was not prepared for when she turned her big blue watery gaze on him and he found his grip slackened yet he did not let go. “You belong with me, not her.”

“What?” Goten stumbled back a bit and lost his hold on the purse as her words hit him. Bulla  _ liked  _ liked him?!

“Ah ha!” Bulla declared—her confession a ruse to knock him off his guard—and scurried away as fast as her thigh-high red boots would carry her and made a beeline for the register. Goten knew he couldn’t stop her without making a scene, a man assaulting a teenage girl for a handbag was bound to get security called on him.

He didn’t even bother to stick around for Bulla’s gloating and walked out of the store with his shoulders slumped, unnoticed by even the most eager of salespersons.

He opted to take a walk around the city as a way to clear his head and hopefully come up with some new ideas for Valese’s birthday present. He wasn’t wrong when he told Bulla she could ask the designer directly. Maybe he could approach Bulma to reach out for him? She had always been supportive of his relationship when his mother wasn’t. That too carried some risks, if Bulma gushed to Chi-Chi about it, no doubt she would scold him for spending millions of zeni on a purse, but oh man, would Valese’s reaction be worth it! It might even make her parents change their minds about him...

“Leave me alone!” A familiar voice cut through his thoughts. Somehow he found himself in the vicinity of Bulla once again, but this time he could tell she was in distress. Despite his annoyance with her, he would never let her face danger alone. He relied on his olfactory sense to lead him to her and approached cautiously, not knowing what she was up against. Making his way around a corner, Goten felt the fury burst inside of him when he saw a young man grip Bulla’s wrist tightly as she tried to move away. He almost gave himself away.

“We’re over Krew,” Bulla told the guy who had his grip on her. He was dressed like a wannabe bad boy wearing an oversized jersey and a backward baseball cap along with gold chain necklaces.  _ Seriously, Bulla? _

“Yeah, that’s what they all say,” the ‘bad’ boy said as he pulled the Saiyan girl closer to him, almost as an embrace. “C’mon, we had fun.” Goten nearly lost it when he saw Krew place his hand on the exposed part of her stomach and creep his hand up her side but what did it was seeing Bulla’s distressed face. It was definitely time to move in.

“Enough!” Goten said louder than he intended, stomping over. He grabbed Krew’s offending hand in a tight grip of his own, sorely tempted to crush the kid’s bones. “Bulla told you to leave her alone. Learn some respect you little fuck.” Goten let go of Krew abruptly, causing the younger man to stumble and land flat on his ass. Bulla let out an appreciative giggle at the site.

“Hey man,” the kid was all humble now. “I didn’t know she was yours. I’m going, I’m going,” he said as he scrambled away in fear. Goten wanted to hammer it into his thick skull that he should just listen to women regardless, but Bulla laid a cautioning hand on his forearm for a brief moment to grab his attention.

“Thanks for that,” Bulla said, staring at the ground, “But I had it under control.”

“You totally did,” Goten agreed. “But I don’t think I could bear to see you in jail for murder.”

Bulla looked to him with a small smile on her face and handed over the bag they had been fighting for earlier out to him. “You can have it. I don’t really need it. Maybe it is time to change up my style.”

“Why would you fix something that’s not broken?” Goten raised an eyebrow at her. “Besides, I know you want it,” Goten conceded. “And despite your tactics, you won it fair and square. I was the one to let go first.” Goten didn’t take the bag and pushed it away from himself and back into Bulla’s arms. “I’ll find something else just as good for Valese.”

“No, seriously, take it,” Bulla said, forcefully pushing it to his chest. She was no longer smiling. “She’ll really love it,” she growled.

“I said no! You keep it!” 

As a Saiyan, he couldn’t resist a good fight.


End file.
